The IT crowd: FBI, HHS and DoD get new technology leaders

The FBI, Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Defense will see new IT leadership take up positions within their agencies in the coming days. (Getty Images)

Some federal agencies will see a new crop of IT leaders this week, as appointments, nominations and career moves bring fresh faces to positions at the FBI, Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Defense.

FBI selects John S. Adams to lead IT branch

FBI Director Christopher Wray chose longtime FBI agent John S. Adams to serve as the assistant director for the Information Technology Branch, which leads the agency’s efforts to combat high-tech criminals and terrorists by providing IT to the entire FBI environment.

Adams, who previously served as the assistant director for the Directorate of Intelligence, will be in charge of 1,800 employees and contractors across three divisions that address enterprise services, infrastructure and applications and data.

According to the FBI news release announcing the appointment, Adams reported for duty as the assistant director in February 2018.

FDA CIO moves to HHS

Food and Drug Administration Chief Information Officer Todd Simpson has moved over to HHS to take the position of chief product officer, a role that will see him take charge of building new technologies for agency mission areas.

HHS CIO Beth Killoran announced the move in a panel discussion with Federal News Radio and said that Simpson began his new role at HHS March 5, 2018.

The White House announced March 5, 2018, that President Donald Trump intends to nominate Lisa Porter to serve as the Department of Defense’s deputy undersecretary for research and engineering.

Porter most recently worked as the executive vice president and director of intelligence capital venture firm In-Q-Tel Labs. Prior to that, she served as the director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Project Activities, associate administrator at NASA, and program manager and senior scientist at DARPA.